Japanese curry recipe

こんにちは (Hello)!

This past weekend I had time to cook my favorite Japanese curry. Japanese people love to incorporate foreign food cultures and make it their own. It may not seem very original, but Japanese people are able to create a very original spin on a culturally traditional dish like curry.

Japanese curry can be sweet or spicy, depending on your taste. I go for the latter. My take on Japanese curry is pretty straightforward. First, I saute chicken pieces after dashing salt and pepper. They are cooked until lightly browned. I would not overcook them since they have to boil in curry soup later. I chop onions, carrots, and potatoes and add them with the chicken for a bit of sauteing. After boiling about 6 cups of water, I add the sauteed chicken and vegetables. Once the vegetables are soft, I would add the curry paste. You can purchase them at any Japanese or Asian grocery. All this takes about 20 minutes.

The surprise with my take on Japanese curry is to add curry sauce over a baked potato. The baked potato is very simple. Poke about 10-12 holes with a fork into the potato so moisture can escape. Drizzle oil and dash of salt. Wrap it in foil and bake in an oven for about 1 hour for 350 degrees. Or you can cook about 2.5 cups of rice. Voila! The results below...

Japan is so clean, clean! 日本はとてもきれいです！

Luckily, my work schedule allows me to have Fridays off. I noticed the house was a bit messy, so I started cleaning dishes and organizing the living room while listening to Lady Gaga's Born This Way album (which I freaking love!). Shout out to Lady Gaga!

Every time I clean, I am reminded how obsessed Japanese are about hygiene and cleanliness. I lived in Japan for a month or two while my Mom prepared my grandparent's funeral arrangements. I was about 4 or 5 and public baths (ofuros) in Japan were still widely used. I recall going with my Mom since my Dad stayed behind in the States, and she would have to bring me to the womens' side of the bath. The baths were a straightforward setup. You would enter an entrance with lockers, pay, then walk to the right if you were male and left for females. So I remember pitter pattering into the woman's baths and initially having a nice experience. My mom gently instructed me to get a plastic seat to sit on, and how to adjust the faucet to get the right water temperature. After soaping and washing, my mom would take me by hand and lead me to the baths. At this view, I started to cry. In my 4 year old perspective, the baths looked like boiling cauldrons bubbling in Christmas red or green, depending on which bath you chose. Each could fit about 5-6 adults and besides burning to death, I thought I would drown. My Mom is not the type to give into a child's protests, so she shrugged her shoulders and dipped in while I stood behind crying. There were older ladies sitting in the bath and they giggled with my Mother as they spoke to each other. After giving up, I put my hand, then my foot, and finally waited for my body to adjust to the intense warmth of the bathwater, and I slide in. My body began to relax, and at the end of the night I walked hand in hand with Mom back to her childhood home with a skip in my step.

As an adult, I forget the therapeutic effects of having a nice bath. On my next trip to Japan, I would love to visit an onsen or Japanese hot spring, and relax with those cute snow monkeys!

(Courtesy of BBC)


(Courtesy of The Japanese Bath)

Thanks to the recent openings of Daiso and Ichiban Kan in San Francisco, I have never purchased so many Japanese bath and kitchen products! They have face and butt wipes, and even polyurethane disposable gloves to use while I dust or wipe down the coffee table. Each item was $1.50. Plus, Japanese products always have the best team of product designers for the most attractive/bizarre/cute packaging. Here is my favorite product..



Are there any Japanese bath products I have yet to use?

Happy Sunday! 日曜日ハッピー！

Hey all! Today was my Monday, but for those who have Monday to Friday schedules, I know you are either excited or dreading the workweek. To bring a smile to your face, I hope these hilarious Japanese comedy and prank videos brighten things up. Japanese people are stereotyped to have a serious demeanor, but many are actually quirky and very, VERY funny. When it comes to humor, Japanese are about embarrassment and humiliation. Jokes and pranks are based on the unexpected.

My favorite is the 3D prank:


And the Old Man trick part 1:


Old Man trick part 2:

Japan in my belly..

I went to San Francisco's Japantown for a grocery run. I am lucky that I live near diverse markets, whether it is Chinese, Latin or Japanese. I can go to an authentic grocery for snacks, dinners, and seasonings. My favorite Japanese foods to cook are Yakisoba, which are pan fried noodles with ham, onions and veggies, and Japanese style curry, which is sweeter than Indian curry. Growing up, my mom would spend an hour or so cooking curry and it is one of my favorites foods to this day.

Yakisoba is the easiest to cook since you sautee onions and ham for a few minutes then add noodles and the pepper/soy sauce seasoning. Voila! It's an instant lunch and dinner meal in about 10 minutes. In another post, I will list the ingredients for a curry meal and how to prep. All of my purchases were made at Nijiya, a Japanese grocery off Post St. in the City. I alternate between this store, Ichiban Kan, and Daiso for the best prices on seasoning and snacks. Nijiya is your best go to for fresh fish, bento boxes (Japanese meal sets, which include an entree and sides), and snacks.

Japan has some of the most unique fast food to eat. Places such as MOS Burger and Yoshinoya are the best! They are cheap, quick and flavorful. I especially love Moss Burger because they make burgers with rice buns instead of typical hamburger ones. They also serve unique soda flavors such as melon. Yoshinoya specializes in Gyudon, which is thin slices of beef marinated in a sweet ginger, soy sauce blend then sauteed with onions and served over soft, warm white rice. These beef bowls are about $5US and so freakin good!

Drunk in Japan

I just got home from an exhausting work week. I decided to head to Ajisen Ramen for some boba milk tea. While others have beer, wine or gin tonics to alleviate a hard week, I typically go for boba. It's flavorful, and I don't worry about turning flush red! Ajisen Ramen does a decent job with their milk tea flavors. I go for regular milk tea and green tea (or matcha).

I am addicted to unique flavored drinks. When I visited Kyoto several years ago, my friends and I found a tiny bar in a clean alley (yes, it's possible in Japan!) no larger than most S.F. kitchens. It could only seat 6 people, and we were kindly invited in with "Irrashaimase!" This was a nice change from the welcome we received in Tokyo, which could be unfriendly at times, but more on that in another conversation. We asked the bartender for his recommendation. He began mixing vodka with liquid sugar, then poured black tea into a martini shaker. It was a sweetened barley tea cocktail, and it was SO GOOD! If I remember right, the bar name is Azure in the Gion district. Cheers to a fond memory in Japan. Kampai!